Re:Mimic [MONSTER MC LITRPG]

Lucas looked at the orb in his tendril, the psychedelic light outside his cave creating a deep contrast with its dark light. A fierce light reflected in his eyes. He didn't know what would happen if he absorbed this core. Even if it helped him transform into a human once more, he was certain the pain from the process might drive him insane before he succeeded…

'It's now or never. Given that I didn't level up from killing both the dark slime and that tree creature, it seems leveling up is much more difficult than I thought...'

With these thoughts in mind, Lucas' decision was made and he shifted his focus to relaxing. After thirty minutes or so, his mind was a calm lake. His gaze somehow became even sharper. Without further delay, he pulled the dark orb into himself.

After absorbing the orb to where he felt his core was located, he was surprised nothing happened. Looking within himself he realized something very important that he had been unaware of.

'My core isn't a physical organ?'

He could see the orb was overlapping with where he felt his core was located, but they somehow didn't interact with one another. It was very perplexing.

'Interesting… but how do I proceed from here then?'

After thinking for a few seconds, he sent his focus on his core itself. The enigmatic presence within him was as active as ever. All the Life energy he had absorbed over this entire week was completely depleted but its Spirit energy had been regenerated to a significant level.

He just silently watched his Spirit energy dance to its own unpredictable rhythm. The sight calmed his mind as it always did. After what could have been a few minutes or even hours, he snapped out of his trance. A stream of thoughts flowing into his mind.

'I need life energy. I won't be able to handle the strain of this transformation with just my spirit energy.'

At the thought, his core brightened with its obscure color once before returning to its normal hue. Lucas watched this with genuine fascination.

'Is it actually capable of understanding me? Or am I just losing it?'

Lucas thought to himself, a twinkle of humor flashed in his eyes as he redirected his focus to his core once more.

'Since you can communicate, let's give you a proper name. How about… Crash?'

His core "visibly" brightened once more at the word Crash.

'You like that name huh? Crash it is. Now, what are we going to do about this Life energy issue…'

Lucas knew he was very likely losing his mind by simply acknowledging "Crash". He could also tell that, he could communicate with it to understand his own instincts deeper. And when you factor in all the isolation he was experiencing, it was just a matter of time before something like this happened. After meditating on Crash for a few seconds, it swiftly gave him an answer.

'What do you mean "eat more"? We are too weak right now. Not to mention those tree creatures may have a way of tracking me.'

Dumping out that idea, he meditated some more. This time for almost thirty minutes.

'Use [Leech]?… Wait, that might actually work. But can I actually absorb Life energy from the air? Well let's find out.'

With a goal in mind, Lucas immediately acted on it. He generated a tendril above him, trying to envision it as some form of conduit of Life energy rather than a straw that sucked it out of his foes.

Surprisingly, his tendril actually grew some esoteric runes on it. They were blood red and buzzed with activity. The image of that sky blue salamander immediately flashed in his mind as he recalled it having its own runes.

'Was I using [Leech] the wrong way this whole time?'

Lucas couldn't help but think so. He could already feel this tendril was much more efficient at absorbing Life energy. He could feel it channel the crimson energy from all around him. It was a wonderful feeling.

Shaking off these distracting thoughts, he focused on the task at hand while taking note of how the runes on his tendril behaved. He felt [Leech] was actually draining both his stamina and Spirit energy to stay activated in this runic mode.

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'But given how much Life energy I'm absorbing right now, it's definitely worth it.'

In just five minutes, his cor— I mean, Crash was now dim and he was dead tired. But he could sense quite a bit of Life energy swirling around Crash. After taking a rest, he repeated the process.

Eventually, Crash was stuffed full of Life energy for the first time ever after about six cycles of absorbing Life energy with [Leech]. The Life energy had formed a chaotic swirl of deep crimson all around Crash. Before he could comment on how gluttonous Crash was, he was hit with a notification.

{Congratulations, [Leech] has leveled up from level 3—> level 4. Keep up.}

Lucas immediately felt a drastic change in the skill. Each time he used [Leech] with the Runes, he felt more and more at ease when handling external Life energy. But with this level up, he developed a vague sense of external Life energy without activating any skills. It was like a switch had been flicked on in his mind, giving him the ability to sense Life energy now.

'Woah… no wonder the notification is different. [Leech] seems to have much more depth than I gave it credit for.'

Thoughts on how to apply this with his other skills flickered across his mind but he silenced them and gathered himself. There was still much to do. After collecting himself once more, he thought.

'Okay Crash, this is it. It's human time!'

Crash blazed with the deep crimson light of Life energy indicating it was ready as well. With his focus on the dark orb, he used all his will power to move it towards his core while Crash's energies became a whirlpool that sucked in the dark orb. In just a few seconds, the dark orb vanished and appeared within Lucas' core. It now glowed with Crash's otherworldly light.

'Yes!'

Filled with elation, Lucas exclaimed mentally before buckling down. This was going to be painful.

'Do it Crash.'

With that mental command, all the Life energy around Crash smashed into the dark orb. In a split second, it detonated like a bomb, radiating blinding light and violent Spirit energy. Lucas could feel there was another component to dark orb's energy but he couldn't place it. He didn't have the luxury to think about it casually either given how fiercely Crash and the dark orb's energy wrestled.

Thankfully, Crash gained the upper hand quickly and brought the situation under control. With zero hesitation, the wild combination of energies surged across Lucas' form. [Mimicry] flared to life as Lucas recalled his physical appearance and memories one last time.

With that image firmly in mind, the first jolt of pain hit him. A low and deep vibration came from his core carrying an energy which dissolved the very state of being. The pain was so great, Lucas' mind went completely blank.

All he knew was pain, pain, and even more pain. He couldn't fight back against it and he couldn't escape it for it was all encompassing. With no ability to tell time, all Lucas could do was hold on at the edge of madness.

His puddle-like body was molded into a human-like shape by a mysterious force. It was made up of raw Life and Spirit energy as it hovered above the cavern floor like floating, unnaturally colored mercury.

Eventually, a pitch black spinal cord began to grow rapidly within this primordial fluid. Somehow, the pain got even worse for Lucas. It felt like the spine was being branded into his existence. Even with the rapid speed each vertebrae grew, it still felt as slow as a snail in this heightened state.

When the spine was finally done, it glowed with a mysterious dark light reminiscent of the dark orb's. Dark glowing ribs unfurled from the spine like the petals of a grotesque flower, expanding outward to form a cage. Lucas could feel his skeleton growing, his consciousness and Will struggled to bear with the ever increasing pain.

Pristine white tendons and muscles followed. They looked like tense metal wires as they encased Lucas' skeletal framework. They twitched and spasmed as they connected, as though testing their newfound strength.

A web of nerves wove through the muscle, faint sparks of Spirit energy racing along the pathways like fireflies in the dark. Lucas felt his awareness expand, the sensation of touch returning to him in fragments—jagged, raw, and heightened to the extreme.

His energy repeated the process with his limbs and neck. When it got to his head however, the process slowed as his energy dwindled. His skull began to take form from the base of his neck and began to move upward. When his skull was formed it looked rather eerie since it was pitch black and glowed with that dark light as well.

Without any fanfare, the energy moved into his skull and began forging the most critical organ—the brain.

At first, a gelatinous, translucent mass began to pool at the top of his forming spine, glowing faintly with threads of Lucas' energy. The mass pulsed and expanded, an amorphous bundle of potential waiting to take shape. It quivered, as though struggling to decide what it should become.

The base of the brain formed first. The brainstem, a cluster of intricate connections that extended from the top of the spinal cord. Tendrils of energy sparked and wove together, threading through the structure like veins of molten light. The brainstem anchored itself firmly, acting as the control hub for his emerging nervous system. From there, the mass grew upward and outward, splitting into two symmetrical hemispheres.

When this happened, Lucas' mind finally cleared up and he awoke, his consciousness reattaching itself to his new form completely. But given that his form was currently incomplete, his Mind almost collapsed due to the sensory overload and pain.

'Ahhhhh!'

He couldn't help but scream internally as he felt his Mind almost unravel. Clamping down with his Will, the process stabilized and continued. His brain fully forming then his energy moved to growing his skin which was now two shades darker than he remembered.

The process sped up as his eyes grew alongside shoulder length, thick black hair. When the process was finally complete, his energy was completely tapped out. Everything went black as he crashed down to the cavern floor like a sack of bricks.

{Congratulations, you have performed a perfect transformation. [Mimicry] has leveled up from level 3—> level 5. You have leveled up from level 3—> level 4.You have leveled up from level 4—> level 5. Achievement unlocked: A tough nut to crack.

…}